Huskies cruise past Chargers for win

HOUGHTON — Michigan Tech cruised past Hillsdale 67-49 in the opening round of the GLIAC Tournament tonight at the SDC Gym and will host the GLIAC Final Four this weekend. The Huskies jumped on the Chargers early in both halves to earn their 25th win of the season.

Tech opened the game on an 18-4 run in the first seven minutes of play and had a 21-point margin on Brenna Heise’s fifth basket of the game with 5:41 remaining. The Black and Gold didn’t make another field goal the rest of the half and settled for a 35-22 lead at the break.

Kelli Guy set the tone for the second half with a 3-pointer in the first 10 seconds. The Huskies would hit three more treys over the first seven minutes of the frame for a 28-point gap.

Coach Kim Cameron was able to play her bench a majority of the second half. The Chargers cut their deficit to as few as 14 in the final two minutes but free throws from Lindsay Winter and an Elisa Jurmu layup accounted for the final margin of 18.

“We got better today,” said Cameron. “There were spots where we played our best all year, and that’s awesome to see in postseason time.

“We also got a lot of big, tourney-time minutes for our whole team, and that’s going to make us better.”

Eleven different Huskies scored points in the contest and eight played at least 10 minutes. Heise finished with a game-high 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Guy added 15 points and four assists. Danielle Blake had a team-high eight rebounds.

Hillsdale was led by Megan Fogt, who notched 11 points and nine boards.

Tech shot 47 percent from the floor and limited HC to 35 percent. The Black and Gold also held a 35-31 rebounding advantage over the Chargers, which entered No. 2 in the GLIAC in that category.

Turnovers were also a major factor as Tech committed just eight to Hillsdale’s 17.

Michigan Tech (25-2) will now host the GLIAC Final Four for the ninth time in school history and first since 2010-11. The Huskies will play Grand Valley State in Saturday’s (Mar. 7) first semifinal at noon. Ashland and Walsh will meet in the second semifinal at 2:30. The GLIAC Championship game is set for 2 p.m. Sunday (Mar. 8).